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Our membership across the independent sector is growing rapidly and covers a diverse range of nursing practice. This page will keep you up to date with new developments in the independent sector in the Eastern region. 

Age UK

Delays in publishing the Government’s plans for the future of elderly care are threatening to drive care homes out of business, a major report from Age UK warns.

Private operators are under renewed pressure after the report showed that the fees they receive from councils to look after elderly people have risen slower than inflation for the third year in a row. Age UK said the figures from the health analysts Laing & Buisson showed that care for the elderly was now being “cut to the bone” and warned that the crisis is “deepening by the day”.

A Government white paper on overhauling the care system has been repeatedly delayed. It is now expected in the next few weeks. Laing & Buisson said the delays were making councils, which have seen their own funding cut sharply, reluctant to increase what they pay to care homes.

You can read the Age UK Care in Crisis repirt at http://www.ageuk.org.uk/Documents/EN-GB/Campaigns/care_in_crisis_2012_report.pdf?dtrk=true

BGS report - Failing the Frail

The British Geriatrics Society has analysed CQC data in its briefing paper "Failing the Frail: – A Chaotic Approach to Commissioning Healthcare Services for Care Homes"

Key conclusions are:

1. Limited access for care home residents to specialist geriatric care.
2. Variable access of care home residents to NHS services.
3. Healthcare commissioners interest in their services for care homes is limited.

You can read the BGS full paper at http://www.bgs.org.uk/